Not likely illegals? That leaves drug dealers and coyotes so either way it’s no big loss.
The article didn’t say it was not likely they were illegals- it said it wasn’t clear. If they were not illegals there are still many possibilities. May not be illegals if tatoos seemed to be local- though just because they are local to the area does not mean they are not long-term illegals. Could be people just goofing around or locals that ran into smugglers. Most of the time bodies found on the border are either illegals or some variety of bad guys, but not always. Sometimes innocent people are just in the way of illegal activities.